


the gang goes out!

by nikola_tesla_slowburn



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: (for bubby/coomer and gordon/benrey), (for tommy/darnold!!), Awkward Dates, Awkward Flirting, Crushes, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, They/Themrey, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, author spent too much time researching fish and aquariums, theres no tag for stimming but it's in here, these tags are messy but this is gonna be really cute ok i promise, theyre goin to the AQUARIUM BAYBE!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28407606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikola_tesla_slowburn/pseuds/nikola_tesla_slowburn
Summary: “So uh, remind me again why we’re here again? Sushi right?” Benrey asked as they gazed up at the building that lay before them. Tugging absentmindedly at their chullo and shutting the door behind them.“Dude- what? No,” Came Gordon’s voice from the other side of the car.  “I’m here because it’s Joshua’s birthday, you’re here because you’re a good partner,” Benrey let out a bark of laughter at this. “And as for everyone else, I think they just tagged along for the fun of it.”(or, t's Joshie's birthday and the science team celebrates by going out to an aquarium together)
Relationships: Benrey & Joshua Freeman, Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Gordon Freeman & Joshua Freeman, Joshua Freeman & The Science Team, Tommy Coolatta/Darnold
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	the gang goes out!

**Author's Note:**

> OK SO AAH  
> a few things beforehand! this is my first multichap fic so pls bear with me, I'll probably change the title later because it was a shitty iasip joke that didn't really land, and yeah! for reference I sort of based the general layout of this nonspecific aquarium on the ABQ BioPark/Aquarium in albuquerque, NM!

“So uh, remind me again why we’re here again? Sushi right?” Benrey asked as they gazed up at the building that lay before them. Tugging absentmindedly at their chullo and shutting the door behind them.

“Dude- what? No,” Came Gordon’s voice from the other side of the car. “I’m here because it’s Joshua’s birthday, you’re here because you’re a good partner,” Benrey let out a bark of laughter at this. “And as for everyone else, I think they just tagged along for the fun of it.”

“Absolutely right!” Dr. Coomer chimed in, clambering out of the car, followed by Bubby, Tommy and Darnold.

“Thank- thanks again for letting us co- come Mr. Freeman!” Tommy chirped, staring up at the aquarium with a slightly awed expression, his hands already excitedly working with the tangle toy he held. “I haven’t been to an aq- an aquarium in forever!” Darnold grinned beside him and rocked a little on his toes.

“I can’t wait, I used to love going to the small one in my hometown growing up. This is gonna be like, 100 times cooler!”

“Benny! Benny!” After finally being released from his car seat prison, Joshua bounded around the car to Benrey, followed by an amused looking Gordon.

“Heya kiddo, what’s goin on, huh?” Benrey asked as they scooped the boy up into their arms.

“Dad said they have  _ sharks _ here. Like real actual sharks!” Joshua announced, eyes wide.

“No kidding.”

“Uh huh! I can’t wait to see ‘em, their teeth are so cool! Kind of like grandpa Bubby’s”

“Hey! These are ten times more dangerous than any dumb old shark’s teeth.” Bubby protested, his demeanor quickly changing as he leaned over to excitedly whisper “ _ Holy shit, he called me grandpa! Did you hear that? Hah! Fuckin’ A!” _ ’ to Dr. Coomer.

“Alright,” Gordon began, moving to face the whole group. “This place is pretty awesome, but also huge. So we could stick together as a big group or split off and go at our own pace, then maybe meet up for lunch and then maybe check the rest out together?” The group let out varying words of agreement and began to pair off as they headed towards the main building.

Bubby almost instinctively wrapped his arm around Dr. Coomer’s waist, and almost as soon as they began to walk, Dr. Coomer began reciting everything he could remember from the Wikipedia page about the architecture of this particular aquarium.

Tommy eyed Darnold nervously, “Do you want to- to buddy up?” He asked sheepishly.

“Of course! I can’t wait to check out the jellyfish, the tanks they have are usually so pretty.” Darnold mused, and the two walked on together. Tommy trying to keep his cool despite the small rush of adrenaline that came every time their arms brushed together.

“Damn, looks like uh, you’re stuck with me, huh, Freeman? Can’t wait to uh, push me into the water I bet. Yeah, you’re up to something.” Benrey grinned and set Joshua down. Gordon rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the small smile forming on his lips.

“Yeah right like I’d waste a perfectly good aquarium trip on finally getting rid of you.”

“Mhm figures. That’s pretty uh, pretty selfish of you man. Can’t even take a second away from your son's birthday to drown your own partner.”

“You’re so full of it dude.” Gordon chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to Benrey’s cheek before taking Joshua’s right hand as Benrey simultaneously took the boy’s left. The three began to catch up with the others.

✧✧✧

Once they had gotten through the tedious process of getting tickets and security, the group stood anxiously in the foyer.

“Ok so I don’t think I have to tell you guys the rules of this place, right?” Gordon said as he passed out the little paper bracelets to confirm that yes, they paid to be here, and yes, they didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction on their person.

“Nope! We are proficient in the area of rule learning and following, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer announced proudly.

Gordon eyed him suspiciously. 

“Right. Ok, well anyways. Let’s meet up back here in like uhh, an hour and a half? Two hours? Then we can grab lunch and stuff.”

“Right-o!” Dr. Coomer chirped, Bubby gave the group an over the top salute before the two ran off giggling mischievously to themselves.

“I really don’t trust that.” Gordon muttered to himself.

“Me and Darnold are gonna go- we’re gonna go check out the jellyfish Mister- Mr. Freeman! See you guys later.” And with that the two were gone, talking excitedly over the pamphlet for the jellyfish exhibit Darnold had picked up.

“Alright, Joshie! Where do you want to head off to first?” Gordon looked down at his son, who was completely absorbed in the map they had been given.

“Umm I dunno. Maybe uh, uh, here!” He pointed at a hall labelled ‘Pacific Coral Reef’, “I learned about coral reefs in school! They’re super cool.”

“Let’s check it out then, you cool with that man?” Gordon looked up at the suspiciously quiet Benrey and felt a surge of affection when he realized they had been staring at Joshua with a very uncharacteristic warm smile.

“Oh, uh yeah, sure, whatever he wants is cool.” Benrey stammered, snapping out of their daze.

“Cool.” Was all Gordon had to say as they both took Joshua’s hands and made their way to the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u so much for reading! I'll update this as soon as I can :-) any critiques r very much appreciated!
> 
> my tumblr is @12-horses-in-drag if ur interested :0)


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